Motion-picture apparatus



S. F. STEIN. MOTION PICTURE APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 17, 19I8.

V m /0 FL Patented June 17, 1919.

. nism of pictures MMUEL F. STEIN, OF WILLIAMSPORL PENNSYLVANIA.

MOTION-PICTURE APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 17, 1919.

Application filed July 17, 1918. Serial No. 245,283.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, SAnImL F. Srnm, of Williamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in M0- tion-Picture Apparatus, and do hereby declare that the following is a exact description thereof.

My invention relates to so-called speaking motion pictures, that is, to the joint use of motion pictures and talking machines, so that when talking or singing characters are projected on the screen, the appropriate .words or sounds will simultaneously be given by the phonograph, and generally stated, my object is to secure a uniform or equable distribittion of the sound to all parties of the auditorium and diminish the likelihood of want of coordination or synchronizing of pictures and sounds. To this end, and to secure other advantages, my invention consists in the construction or correlation of parts substantially as hereinafter specified.

In the drawings.

Figure 1 is a view diagrammatic in nature, of one embodiment of my invention, showing the same viewed from above.

Fig. 2 is a detail back view of one of the chairs and adjacent parts.

Briefly described, my invention comprehends the employment of a talking'machine or phonograph in connection with a record appropriate to the moving picture, which acts upon a telephone transmitter from which radiate to all parts of the auditorium circuit wires, or conductors with their terminals at or near the seats therein, and provided either permanently or detachably, with'telephone receivers for the use of the seat occupants. Thus, mitted to him, and with the same force, or volume ofsound, the talk or other utterances, or sounds rendered by the talking machine, and the serious objection is overcome to the use of a phonograph in that if its sound is loud enough to reach to the auditors in the rear of the theater, it is objectionably loud to those at front, and if it is moderated so as to be unobjectionable to those in the front, it is too low to be heard elsewhere. Again, more perfect synchroand sounds is obtainable, first, because projector machine and phonoaph can be close connected for operation f ince by my invention the phonograph need full, clear, and

each auditor will have directly trans.

not be close to the screen, as it makes no difierence where it is located) and second,

because the sounds being electrically transmitted, they reach the auditor simultaneously with the sight of the pictures, the difierence between the rates of travel of light and sound not being a factorin the case.

In the drawings, 10 designates a motion picture screen; 11 a projector machine; 12 a phonograph, operatively connected with the projector machine so they run in unison; 13 a telephone transmitter that has a dia phragm that is actuated in correspondence with the vibrations of the diaphragm of the phonograph, either'directly by mechanical connection or through the air, 0': is itself provided with a stylus and directly operated y the record; 14, the lineof wires running from the transmitter to all. parts of the auditorium, so that simultaneously the sounds fromthe same record are sent to all the seats 15 of the auditorium; and 16, the receivers at the seatterminals of said line wires. The receivers may be permanently secured to such terminals, but they are preferably detachably connected to enable persons to own their own receivers, just as they do opera glasses, or to enable them to be hired at the box ofiice or theater. The place of connection is such as not to interfere with free passage of the persons between the rows of seats, and, preferably, nection is at the side. or back of the chair occupied by the user, as thereby the conductor wires leading to the receiver will be wholly out of the way. Thus, as shown in Fig. 2 the terminal 17 (which may be a plug socket) is secured to the chair back 18, near the top thereof, and the wires leading thereto are carried through a vertical tube 19 alongside the chair, branching from the main tube or conduit 20.

V The receiver 16 may have a spring clamp 16 to hold the instrument to users head, and said clamp may be detachable, so that all.the user will be obliged to carry, will be such clamp and not the whole receiver which latter may thus be always left at the chair. The clamp may be rendered sanitarily safe by any of the usual eXpedients for this purpose, if it or the receiver to which it is attached is promiscuously used by the public and not owned by the individual. To this same end I provide the clamp with a thin member 22 that prevents contact of the ear getting record and film out of or head of the user, with the transmitter body 21.

If, in consequence of Wear, portions of film should be cut out, that would result in synchronism, should the ends between the cut out portion be joined, I avoid that result by putting an insert of blank film in place of the out out part, and if the latter should be very long, I distribute the blank portion in sections alternating with retained portions of the picture, so that an unobjectionable series of short interruptions to the continuity of the picture would result instead of a long objectionable one. I

To prevent the noise of the projector'machine reaching the telephone transmitter When the latter is quite close to the projector machine to enable the direct and close driv ing of the phonograph from the projector machine shaft, I interpose a partition 23 of some usual deadening material.

The parallel connection of the receivers in the circuit renders practicable the detach ability of the receivers, in that the removal or absence of one or more receivers would not interfere with the operation of those that remain.

By providing, as my invention does, for the transmission of the Words or other sounds to the individual spectators, and not to the audience generall it is possible that both Well as see,

classes of patrons, those who Want'to hear as and those Who want to see and not hear, are provided for, because no one who and unless he does use it, he willnot hear the production of the phonograph.

I claim: j

1. The combination of a picture projecting machine, a phonograph for producing sounds pertinent to the pictures projected by the pro ecting machine, a plurality of telephone receivers, seats with Which the receivers are respectively associated for the individual use of seat occupants, and means for transmitting sounds from the honograph to the receivers comprisin a circuit acted upon the telephone receivers are connected in parallel, the receivers being detachable. 2. The combination of a picture projecting machine, seats for spectators, a phonogra for producing sounds pertinent to the picture projected by the projecting machine, a telephone transmitter actuated by the phonograph, a plurality of circuits in parallel leading from said transmitter to the respective seats, and a'telephone receiver for each circuit having a detachable connection therewith.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

SAMUEL'F. STEIN.

by the phonograph W1th which circuitcares not to hear need use the receiver 

